Choose a theme



Upgrading Your Living SpaceLet’s face it, most men live in poorly decorated living spaces. Decorating is not a common skill. We don’t typically take classes for it unless we plan on becoming an interior designer. This lack of style leaves us with bare, unappealing homes. The proof that men are seeking out ways to better decorate their homes is in this subreddit and websites like .On this blog we talk about taking pride in your appearance. Well, that includes your home. Are you confident enough to bring a woman back to your place? Or does the thought of her seeing how you live make you cringe just a little?What if I told you it wasn’t that difficult to add a little bit of flare to your hovel? Ideas like paint or what to do with all those Funko Pop figures - it won’t be what you’ll want to hear. No need to rehaul your whole home in one go. Take your time tackling each room individually with attention to detail. Unless you own your home, some of these suggestions may not work for you. That’s ok. Use all that you can. Something to keep in mind, less is more. A minimalist approach is best if you don’t have the funds to start decorating.Choose a themeClay Kinson on Pinterest has a board titled “Male Living Space” you can look at here. There’s a problem I have with this board and others similar to it - they’re not realistic to most men. These pictures and ideas are more aligned with food porn than realistic design. Most of the items are not easily obtainable. One of a kind furniture or rustic pieces made by hand. Don’t let this be discouraging. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. But, if you are renting, don’t have a pipe dream of building up your home to look like a log cabin. Your budget and craftiness will dictate how far you can go. Use these boards and images as a guide to piece together your own blueprint. Take something from all the pictures you like to build out your home. You can draw out the room beforehand to get an idea of the finished product. Don’t start buying stuff you think looks good now, just to find out later you have a collection of random pieces that don’t mesh well together.PaintFor homeowners, or the ones with permission, paint can redefine a room. However, painting a room is more than slapping a few coats of your favorite color on the wall. Color can change the mood of a room. Lighter colors reflect more light in a room as opposed to its darker counterpart. Using a dark color in a large room will make it less inviting and more like a dungeon.Too bright, or wild even, can be distracting when taking in the whole picture of a room. The walls shouldn’t overbear the entire room. Instead, compliment the room. Contrast is always a good thing to differentiate what one thing is from another, but not so much in a room if the walls take over everything. I am not a fan of the generic white wall. Why? It’s boring. Instead, consider gray or at the least an off-white for a sleek modern look. Imagine gray with stainless-steel appliances. White is for those that can’t decide on a color. Which is fine too. White walls can be considered your canvas on which you’ll paint on using the rest of your decor.Your walls are not the only pieces you can paint. Trim around your windows, doors, and baseboards can have a complimentary color or stay white. I prefer complimentary colors. You’ll add that bit of contrast if you can make the trim pop out a little. LightingNatural light will always be the most flattering to the interior of your home. But when the Sun goes down, does the light in your home go out too? It’s best to have plenty of light in your home. Unfortunately for those renting, changing the light fixtures won’t be an option. Lamps are your new best friend.There are plenty to choose from including desk lamps, end table lamps, and floor lamps. I never liked most of the lights in the ceilings when I lived in apartments. Floor lamps immediately became the main light source in my apartments. The harsh light coming from light bulbs alone was what turned me off from ceiling lights. Lamp shades diffuse the light and balance it evenly throughout. Unless, you choose to focus the light with smaller spotlights like these. Depending on your theme, you may need only one type of light source, lamp or spotlight. Either way, it’s better to have enough light in your home than not. Match your temperaturesDaylight bulbs have a blue-white hue and soft-white have an orange hue. Whatever mood you’re going for will be matched with your temperature rating. Higher the rating, brighter the light. Daylight is rated at 7500k. Personally, I prefer bright daylight bulbs in bathrooms and kitchens. Everywhere else has soft-white bulbs. Regardless, match all the bulb temperatures in one room. FurnitureThe largest expense will be furniture. If you plan on entertaining guests then you will most certainly need somewhere for them to sit. Lawn chairs in your living room will guarantee you one, and only one, party you’ll ever have at your place. There’s nothing wrong with used furniture as long as it’s in good condition. You can find good furniture with no stains or rips, but if its uncomfortable then there’s no use in having it. If you’re planning on buying new furniture, then of course you’ll be looking at Ikea. That’s the number one home furnishing store, right? It is. For good reason. Affordable furniture with the only downside of assembling it yourself. The MALM bedroom series is sleek and designed modestly. Simple. The Nyhamn sofa bed is affordable and looks good in smaller rooms. An unconventional sofa like this one will have you thinking outside the box. It goes to show you have options to explore with your furniture and don’t have to break the bank doing it.Art/DecorHere’s the part where I tell you it’s time to put away all your Funko Pop figures and stop using them as decor. Great, now I sound like my grandfather. He might be onto something though. What is so attractive about suspended adulthood that continues to run rampant on today’s young men? No woman is going to be impressed with your huge collection of fictional character collectibles. Unless, said woman also is into fictional character collectibles. Even when put into glass cases with lights shining on them like some sort of museum, it still doesn’t look appealing. This is where the adage, less is more comes in.The fact that there is a subreddit for men looking to upgrade their living space proves that men are trying to break away from living less like a teen and more like a man. Nerd culture isn’t going away. That doesn’t mean you should have your home look like a teen boy’s idea of what his dream home would be. It means that you should scale it back some. And also, start framing your posters. If you prefer Halo over Van Gogh that’s fine, at least have the poster framed. It will look ten times better. Add wall art anyways to avoid bare walls. The point is to have your home look like an adult lives there, with small personal touches of what you like. It’s possible to have tasteful nerd dwellings but be modest with it.StorageClutter will ruin your aesthetically pleasing design. Not everything you own needs to be on display. Movies and video games are prime examples of this. Every room in your house should have a place for storing your belongings. The more hidden away, the less clutter. This also helps with finding what you’re looking for.Everything has a place in my home. I got tired of flipping the house upside down in order to find something I lost. Now, everything has a place that it belongs to. The plus side to all of this is the additional space I gained from storing my stuff correctly. Or in a lifehack fashion. There’s plenty of clever ideas on the internet to make the most out of what space you have. Don’t hate me for this, but I am going to reference a Buzzfeed link. You more than likely won’t use all 42 ideas, however, some might be useful to you. The kitchen benefits the most when you put some thought into storing everything that belongs in it. You’ll make an impression on whomever decides to venture in there.Start with what you have and clean itThese were only a few minor ideas of what you could do. There’s plenty of online resources for ideas. None of it will matter if you’re not a clean person. Just like taking care of your shoes and clothes, you should take care of your home. That includes keeping it clean.A necessary evil of course. Not too many people find joy in cleaning. I for one am not one of them. We all know how important it is to stay clean. Remember that potential woman you’re bringing home? She won’t notice how much time you spent decorating your home if there’s a foul odor in the air. Instead, she’ll be admiring the front door and how badly she wants to use it. Maybe she’ll notice your painted trim as she escapes through a window. Instantly upgrade your living space today by cleaning what you have, storing away what you can, and scaling back. Start there before you decide you want to go spend money on a new couch. Take inventory of what you have now. Don’t add to it, instead replace one item at a time with something better. Something that is aesthetically pleasing that will compliment your goal. That blueprint you wrote down will have one item scratched off one by one. You can improve your living space without breaking the bank using this method. Over time you might change your mind on how you want the layout to be. If you overhaul all at once, you’ll have to overhaul all over again. Save money one piece at a time.Also, go clean your room. ................
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